"Ring out the false, ring in the true"

These are the words inscribed on the bell inside Manchester's Town Hall clock tower. A handful of visitors are permitted each year to climb the tower and I was pleased to secure a place on this year's tour last Saturday.

Construction on the current Town Hall began in 1868, soon after Manchester was incorporated as a city. It was designed by the famed architect Alfred Waterhouse in a mock gothic (gothick) style inspired by Flemish medieval civic halls, but with central heating and room for hundreds of Victorian pencil pushers. Fourteen million bricks were required for its seven floors, clustered around a 280-foot clock tower.

I am proud to say our Town Hall welcomes visitors inside to see the mosaics, sculptures and paintings which adorn its beautiful public spaces. However, access to its clock tower is restricted, but this year I managed to reserve a ticket.

Our guide was an expert in Victorian clocks who took us up the tower in stages. He was so much an expert I'm afraid the only word I understood was 'pendulum' - the rest of his spiel was lost on me.

The clock mechanism was surprisingly small and it was here the bell above us tolled the hour.

We were still only halfway up the 176 steps leading up the tower and our next stop was behind the four clock faces. Here it was pointed out the clocks do not actually show numbers for the hours and that the 10-foot hour hands sweep across the motto Teach us to number our days.

With no warning, he invited us to step through a slim doorway and 'have a look'. The door opened out onto a narrow balcony below the clock face which overlooks Albert Square about 150 feet below!

Rather disconcertingly, the carvings behind us meant we had to lean forward a bit for a gargoyle's view, with only a low stone balustrade between us and the cobbles.

We had to climb higher still up the tight spriral of steps in order to reach the bell, Great Abel, named after the mayor of Manchester at the time. Abel Heywood started his working life at the age of 9 and was imprisoned for refusing to pay for a licence to publish his newspaper for the working man, stating that it was a tax on knowledge. His radical stance meant Queen Victoria declined to attend the opening ceremony.

His bell no longer rings of its own accord, but instead sits on a steel platform and is struck. From this airy perch we were invited to step out onto the balcony. Thankfully this was a bit wider and ran all around the tower.

Unfortunately the sunshine we'd been enjoying the day before had dried up, but we still had great views for miles in all directions. This is looking northwest towards the Lancashire moors.

A birds-eye view of the Union Jack. There were a noticeable lack of pigeons in the clock tower, thanks to the falcons nesting there.

Looking southwest to the former Central Station, which is now a conference centre overlooked by the tallest residential tower in Britain.

Thanks to lousy weather, I think my best photos from the day were of the series of rooms we visited during our climb.

I am a sucker for peeling paint and textured walls!

So the next time on my lunch break in Albert Square, I'll be listening out for Great Abel's chime and counting myself lucky to be enjoying another day in Manchester!